The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1887-06-23

and heard something heavy fall upon
the floor above.
II sprang up, but for the moment
was In dazed condition. from which /
was aroused by the sound of footsteps,
which seemed to COME up the stairs
from the floor below and then to ascend
to the hoof above. 1t is the fourth
floor front lodger returning lste,' !
thought, he steps quietly as becomes a
late conner That | had been dream
ing felt certain; but still it seemed
more than possible that the cries and
the pistol shot at the end of my dream
had been real, and I certainly had
heard something which might have
been dead body fall on the floor
above. Could It be that Mrs. Winter
had been murdered by Leclairl Iplaced
my ear at the Fireplace and listened,
heard sounds as if the knob OF a door
was being turned, and then every thing
was silent moved toward my door,
and as l did so | heard footsteps quietly
descending the stairs from the floor
above, The footsteps passed my door,
and l then heard them descending the
stairs TO the floor below. opened my
doorand, stepping softly out or the land
ing, ! listened. hcatd the door of lie.
clair's recm open.and then shut. now
had no doubt that it was Lcclair. and
that he had murdered Mrs. Winter
either in fit of jealousy or because he
found her In his way He looked just the
sort OF man TO commit a murder,
thought Twas about to arouse the house
and denounee Leclair, when it flashed
across my mind that after all, I might
have made a mistake, and that Mrs.
Winter might be still alive. After a
moments hesitation Iconclnded to wait
until morning. crept into bed, and
while trying to solve the strange
mystery of the cries, the pistol shot and
the heavy fall on the floor above, ]
fell Into deep sleep.
| at was late in the morning when /
awoke. While dressing myself l fixed
upon the course which thought it
best to pursue. / was about to leave
my room when heard some one burst
in the door of the room above mine.
An instant later loud shrieks rang
through the house. hurried up the
stairs and entered the room. On the
floor l saw the dead body of Mrs. Win
t>r. There was wound in the breast
from which had poured stream OF
blood that now lay in a pool near the
body. The expression on the dead
woman's face was a peaceful one. The
fingers of her right hand were closed
over the butt Of revolver. | felt sure
that tho murderer had placed her fin
gers there in order to make it appear
that the poor woman had committed
suicide. As this thought struck me l
saw Leclair enter the room. His face
was very pale, but he looked at the
corpse without flinching and said:
" Poor woman. ] am very sorry for
her She has had much trouble. 1t
was more than she could bear. 1t de-
stroyed her reason and drove her to
suicide. She has been very kind to my
wife.
1.-The landlady with police officer
and several other persons now entered
the room. The officer examined the
corpse and then asked if any one pres
ent knew anything about the suicide
beyond the fact that the body had been
found in its present condition. / was
about to denounce Leclair as the muir
derer of Mrs. Winter, when, to my sur
prise, he stepped in front of me and
said to the officer:
II can explain the tragedy. My
name is Leclair-C Charles Leclair-"
Your name is Charlie" thought |.
land the dead woman called on Charlie
to spare her. That is tbs only link
wanting in the chain of evidence"
.Ihave known Mrs. Winter for some lit
tie time. She was married to aman who
i'll treated her, and finally deserted her,
taking with him their only child, to
which she was deeply attached. Since
then the poor woman has exhausted all
of her slender means in striving to
regain the child. Last evening Mrs.
Winter learned of the death of her
child. Her grief was intense, but sho
was calm when l last saw her The
blow undoubtedly unhinged her mind
and drove her to the fatal act
'.Do you know when she fired the
shot?' asked the officer.
1t must have been about three
O'Clock this morning replied Leclair
My wife was very i'll last night--in
fact, she was temporarily insane, a
condition to which she is subject occa-
sionally. At such times she strives to
throw herself from the window, and
when drag her out of danger she i'm
AGNES that am about to kill her.
Mrs. Winter was very fond Of my wife,
over whom she had a strong influence
Mrs. Winter has several times sue
ceeded in calming my wife during her
unfortunate spells. AT about three
O'Clock this morning my wife had one
of her bad spells. pulled her back
from the window just in time to save
her from jumping out. She struggled
as usual in such cases, and begged me
not to murder her. got her into a
heavy chair, where l tied her. Just
then | heard a sound which might have
been the explosion Of pistol, but ]
paid no attention to it at the time.
Although my wife had ceased to strug-
gle decided. in order to calm her
thoroughly, to call in the aid of Mrs.
Winter. went up to her door and
tried the knob, which was the signal
we had agreed was TO mean that my
wife stood in need of her services.
She did not answer the movement OF
the door knob, so concluded that she
was sleeping soundly | returned to
my room without making any further
attempt TO awake her. | have no doubt
that she was already dead when tried